McLaren needs to improve qualifying pace for crack at title: Hamilton

London: Former Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton has said that the McLaren team needs to beef up their cars in the qualifying rounds for them to have a decent crack at this year`s title.

Hamilton believes that despite McLaren collecting 54 points from the opening two Grand Prix`s to sit second in the constructors` championship, their weakness has been their qualifying rounds. It had resulted in Hamilton and fellow team-mate Jenson Button starting fourth and eighth on the grid in the season-opener in Bahrain, and 11th and fourth in Melbourne. "In both Bahrain and Australia we`ve felt more comfortable with our race pace than the pace we showed in qualifying. While that`s encouraging, it`s clear we need to improve our qualifying pace if we`re to have a regular shot at winning races," The Daily Express quoted Hamilton, as saying. "It`s all very well being quick in the race, but if you can`t make up places from your grid position, then your race is still going to be a struggle," he added.Hamilton further said that the team`s saving grace has been the performance of the car during a race. "We can take home the positives: our car is fast, much faster than it was this time last year, and it seems to be reliable. Now we need to work on single-lap pace, the sooner the better," he added. ANI